Calais Jungle refugees targeted by armed far-right militia in brutal campaign of violence

Exclusive: Migrants accuse local police of failing to protect them from the beatings – and carrying out their own assaults


A refugee flees police tear gas near the entrance to the Jungle camp in Calais Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Members of an armed far-right militia are attacking Calais migrants in an unprecedented, brutal campaign of violence, according to evidence seen by this newspaper. In a series of incidents in recent weeks, refugees living at the Jungle camp claim to have been targeted by organised thugs – sometimes in uniforms.

The Independent was told of one attack in which young male refugees were taken by van to a field where they were stripped naked and had their hands cuffed behind their back. They were then made to watch as their abductors – a group of unidentified men – beat them individually.
Refugees accuse local French police of failing to protect them from the beatings – and also carrying out their own assaults.

A coalition of NGOs, legal advisers and charities has decried both an increase in incidents of police aggression and the rise in attacks on refugees by groups of civilians, thought to be racist gangs.

The claims are outlined in a report compiled by staff at the camp’s legal centre,  along with the British charity Care4Calais, which is to be submitted to the state prosecutor. It included 10 testimonies of violence, eight at the hands of police and five by civilian groups.

Many of the accounts are corroborated by medical reports from international humanitarian organisations Médecins sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde. Four videos thought to be included in the report have been seen by The Independent. One shows a 16-year-old Afghan boy whose arm is in a cast saying he was forced into the back of a van and taken to a field where he was beaten by a group of men. His arm and two fingers are broken. A similar account is given by another 16-year-old boy who refers to the unidentified men as “fascists”. 

Marianne Humbersot, head of mission at the camp’s legal centre, said she has about 50 accounts in total which bear striking similarities of violence at the hands of “policemen and a certain civil militia of which we do not know the exact identity”.

She said: “We are talking about injuries that are life-threatening. Not just bruises but also stabbing, strangling and beating with metal sticks. These attacks are against men, women and children. Minors. I have the account of a 10-year-old boy who has been subjected to police violence. I have a 13-year-old who was beaten by police – and 10 days before he had his nose broken by ‘racists’.”

Concerns around these attacks have increased in the past month. The local region came close to electing Front Nationale leader Marie le Pen in the recent elections. But the Care4Calais report forms the most comprehensive evidence of systematic violence against refugees at the hands of suspected right-wing militias. 
While there is no suggestion that the police have worked with the group, many have accused them of failing to protect migrants as they hope to soon clear the camp. On Friday, the local police prefecture announced a large area of the camp, home to 800 to 1,000 people, would be bulldozed next week.

Refugee in Calais’ Jungle camp

For the camp’s inhabitants, awareness of far-right groups has been heightened following a hostile political march held in early January that ended in clashes. Many migrants said they know people who have been attacked by these groups. Ali-Muhammad Jumar, 23, from Sudan was one such case. He had a broken finger and a fresh cut above his left eyebrow that he said were the result of being beaten the previous night by police near the Eurotunnel train tracks. “There are racists in Calais who beat people with sticks,” he added.

MSF and MDM both confirmed they had heard accounts and issued medical reports that corroborated the testimonies in the report.

“Most of the injuries are head trauma with bruises and face lacerations, some needing stitches,” said Marlene Malfaid, MSF medical co-ordinator for the camp. She added that the agency sees about 12 incidents a week of people who have been victims of violence. In the past week alone, they have had a dozen reports, eight regarding police violence and four of “non-police” attacks.

Isabelle Bruand, Nord-Pas-de-Calais regional co-ordinator for MDM, said: “What we see now seeing is targeted violence: groups who are targeting immigrants in the area near the camp for no reason other than simply to beat them. We don’t know who these people are. Some people say they are beaten by civilians. Some tell us they are beaten by groups of the CRS [the French riot police] and other policemen.

“These groups of civilians feel organised. In some cases they have weapons and they seem to come with the idea of ‘we will go to the camp and find some immigrants to beat up’.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calais-jungle-refugees-targeted-by-armed-far-right-militia-in-brutal-campaign-of-violence-a6870816.html

sassy wrote:They can't invade France you ignoramus, they are not allowed out of the 'Jungle', the police keep them there.

sassy wrote:We have been over this a million times, and each time you pretend you don't know the answer.  Many of them have relatives in the UK they want to get to, especially the children.  There are two there trying to get to their aunt, their parents were killed in front of them, and the eldest, who is only 15, is looking after the youngest, who is mentally disabled and is only 11.

Stormee wrote:We have been oner this a million times -

They Are NOT NEEDED Here

sassy wrote:Most of them are not men who are adults Rags.  You carry on believing the propagands, because it suits you, and your own quiet way you are as racist as the others.   Why do you think teachers from here have volunteered to go over and set up schools in tents?

sassy wrote:FFS REFUGEES CANNOT BE ILLEGAL AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO STAY IN THE FIRST COUNTRY THEY COME TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND IF IT WAS BENEFITS THEY WERE AFTER, THEY WOULD STAY IN FRANCE BECAUSE THEIR BENEFITS ARE HIGHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sassy wrote:People like you make me sick.  You would crumble if you had to go through a quarter of what they have indured and you have the gall to critisece them trying to get a better life.  Shame on you.

sassy wrote:No, you shut the fuck up, I'm already part of committee helping, send clothes, food and helpers and so is my daughter, something I am very proud of.

Raggamuffin wrote:The way to get a decent life is to start off by not living in a tent by choice, and to have some gratitude when they're offered alternative accommodation. Take up what France is offering, and go on from there. Living in a tent in the hope that they can sneak onto a lorry is not the way to do it.

sassy wrote:No, you shut the fuck up, I'm already part of committee helping, send clothes, food and helpers and so is my daughter, something I am very proud of.

sassy wrote:FFS REFUGEES CANNOT BE ILLEGAL AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO STAY IN THE FIRST COUNTRY THEY COME TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND IF IT WAS BENEFITS THEY WERE AFTER, THEY WOULD STAY IN FRANCE BECAUSE THEIR BENEFITS ARE HIGHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nicko wrote:If sassy is sending food clothes ect,   then she's part of the problem,   just encouraging them to come.

Tommy Monk wrote:The Jungle scum have been attacking locals and drivers for years... the police and authorities refuse to do what they are supposed to do and act to deal with them so eventually people will start to take the law back into their own hands and it will be tough action that they dish out!!!



The leftie liberal hand wringing is responsible for the public anger!!!

HoratioTarr wrote:

sassy wrote:FFS REFUGEES CANNOT BE ILLEGAL AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO STAY IN THE FIRST COUNTRY THEY COME TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND IF IT WAS BENEFITS THEY WERE AFTER, THEY WOULD STAY IN FRANCE BECAUSE THEIR BENEFITS ARE HIGHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

France offers better benefits for single adults, whereas the UK offers benefits for both single adults and those with children.   France does not offer benefits for children.  Housing is offered in both countries but you're more successful in the UK, as France claim they do not have enough housing to support migrants without children. France don't offer asylum as much as the UK, which could be another reason they are all trying to get over here.   One can't blame them, and in an ideal world, it would be all open arms and kumbaya, but as we're now seeing in Germany, it's all going a bit Pete Tong, and the minority of scum seeping in with the rest of the refugees are spreading fear and discord with the general public.  

I fear terrible riots this summer, of almost Biblical proportions if things carry on the way they are.   Most of these people just want a decent life, and everyone is entitled to that.  But realistically, this is just not going to happen. Here in the UK, we have our own social problems with the homeless and our elderly dying of cold each year.  Britain is like an overloaded boat, keep adding to the melee and sooner or later it will sink.  The NHS is already on its knees.  This is a time for realism, not bleeding hearts.

Raggamuffin wrote:I just think it's crazy that a situation like the one at Calais has been allowed to go on for so long. It's costing the French a lot of money, and not one of those immigrants seems to have any gratitude at all - they just moan that they want to come to the UK.